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The Face as a Sensory Organ

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Book cover The Know-How of Face Transplantation

Abstract

The human face is a highly specialized organ which receives sensory information from the environment and transmits it to the cortex. The advent of facial transplantation has recently shown that excellent reconstruction of disfiguring defects can be achieved; thus, the expectations are now focused on functional recovery of the transplant. So far, restoration of the facial sensation has not received the same attention as the recovery of motor function. We describe the current knowledge of the sensory pathways of the human face and their respective functions, the available methods of sensory assessment, and the data on normal sensation. The topographical sensory anatomy of facial subunits is summarized, the trigemino-facial connections are illustrated, and the implications of these anatomical variations on facial allotransplantation are emphasized.

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  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Maria Z. Siemionow

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  1. Maria Z. Siemionow
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  2. Bahar Bassiri Gharb
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  3. Antonio Rampazzo
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Correspondence to Maria Z. Siemionow .

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  1. Dept. Plastic Surgery A/60, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Euclid Avenue 9500, Cleveland, 44195, Ohio, USA

    Maria Z. Siemionow

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Siemionow, M.Z., Gharb, B.B., Rampazzo, A. (2011). The Face as a Sensory Organ. In: Siemionow, M. (eds) The Know-How of Face Transplantation. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-253-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-253-7_2

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